An argument on Joi's site about emergent democracy and many other issues has prompted me to write a little more about my thoughts on the matter.

Aren't we really talking about emergent order here? We're talking about a large number of nodes on a network, which all link to each other based on their own ideas about what is important, interesting, or relevant to their worlds.

This, of course, means that certain memes will gain primacy through extensive linking, bringing them to the top of the pile in search engines...

Such memes gain their position based on their perceived value to the majority of sites, or to the most popular sites out there. This, to some, seems to be a very democratic way of sifting memes, but I tend to look at it more as emergent order in an anarchic system.

Some blogs become popular initially due to their quality or due to the rarity of blogs in the beginning. After this, however, many blogs only become popular through linking from these previously determined popular blogs. Is this not an example of something directly akin to feudalism? Here's how it seems to work in societies:

Anarchy begets feudalism. Feudalism begets revolution. Eventually, people may decide to create a more democratic system, based on laws and rights, etc. Eventually they may realize that separation of powers helps preserve this system.

Anarchy doesn't necessarily imply raping and pillaging. In the world of blogs, I use it to mean that there simply isn't any order; there are just millions of blogs out there. Of course, people only have limited attention and limited time. They need order to increase the efficiency of this medium. A-list blogs are a reaction to this need, and create a concomitant stifling force. The emergent structure in the blog world is not conducive to democracy at present, only to a popularity-induced hierarchical order.

If we are to make the move to democracy, nothing about it will be emergent. It will be done by consciously giving say to everyone in a structured way, such as on slashdot, but across blogs, and preserving everyone's chance to be heard. I think that this has to be a consciously designed structure, which can only be preserved through coded structure, just as national democracy is only preserved through a delicate balance of confidence and law...

Now, this isn't to say that there aren't democratizing forces at work today in the world... Globalization has given people many more ways to vote with their wallets than ever before. It's brought all sorts of changes that may lead to more people having more of a say in things. But ironically, the more voices struggle to be heard, the more must be sifted out by society. Structures must be consciously created to allow a societally sanctioned path for the smallest voices to see part of the action, or to reach the top of the heap.

If and only if the whim of A-list bloggers constitutes a fair path through which everyone should have their content sifted, we can believe in a new emergent democracy. If this doesn't sound quite democratic to you, I think you may see my point. :)